Log in

France and James Bond

I just read an article in the New York Times about a scholarly conference in France on James Bond. Not that interesting, but there's one quote that gets into serious eye-rolling territory, from "Hubert Bonin, an economic historian from Bordeaux":

“In France we have the myth of the savior, the Bonaparte, the de Gaulle,” he said. “Here, we’re always searching for the providential hero. James Bond is a very reassuring figure for France.”

You'd have to be really provincial to think France is unusual in that respect. As near as I can tell, every culture has its savior myths.

Comments

I suspect that he's speaking, not of generic savior mythos, but of a more specific *type* of savior--just like much of South America has often fallen prey to the machismo-strong-man-dictator type. It's part of the country's cultural heritage (I'm afraid I'm really rusty on the details of the machismo culture: that particular Spanish class was over 20 years and a lifetime away; I do recollect that in Spanish, there's actually a specific word that denotes that kind of guy, but it's floating around the edge of my conciousness, and I can't retrieve it.)